AvatarThe Last AirbenderBook Four Magic
by The-Belladonna-Rose
Summary: On the other side of the veil in the heart of the department of mysteries lies the avatar-verse. When two Unmentionables get hideously drunk and summon people from the other side, Hogwarts becomes their only refuge when the Dark Lord comes sniffing.
1. A Strange New World

**Avatar****; **_**the Last Airbender**_

**Book Four: **_**Magic**_

_**Howdy. This is a collaboration crossover fic between Harry Potter and Avatar The Last Airbender. My fellow writer is known as Mogseltof and it is posted on her account as Harry Potter and the Last Airbender. (So you don't read it twice) **____**. The reason? We had a free period and we were bored. Enjoy.**_

_Chapter 1_

"So what else should it say?" Zuko asked Sokka, master of words… kind of.

"Due to unavoidable events and life in general we have decided to extend our holiday and are moving on to Omashu," Sokka dictated from his reclined position in the sand, a mouthful of fire gummies slurring his speech slightly. "Yours, Sparky Jerkbender, blah, blah, blah."

"You know, I normally sign my letters 'Firelord Zuko'."

"Why would you do that? I was convinced Sparky Jerkbender was your name."

Zuko growled lightly and then looked over at the young Avatar. "I only saw fifteen hotsquats, Aang!"

"Come on, Zuko! We're on holiday! What difference will five squats make?"

"The difference is your dessert in your belly, or your dessert in Sokka's belly," Katara pointed out, pausing in her own training.

"I thought fire and water were supposed to be opposite minded," the young airbender folded his arms over his skinny chest.

"You should be glad that we're getting along, Aang. That means -" Katara broke off before finishing her smug comment and when the rest of them turned to see what was wrong, they saw only a puddle of frozen water and a discarded Fire Nation hairpiece.

"Katara!" Toph shouted, "I can't feel her! She just… disappeared."

_AAAAAND... Cue New Paragraph_

"- That your annoying philosophies actually work," Katara finished, turning to face her airbending boyfriend. Instead she was faced with a dark, damp room that looked like a cave, but had a black wooden door in the wall. She spun around again. An ominous, whispering curtain was at her back and two, middle-aged men in oddly cut, ceremonial looking robes were staring at her.

Remembering who she was, Katara pulled cold water from the air around her and pinned the men to one of the stone walls, freezing the water into cuffs. "Who are you?" the two men shared a frightened glance. "Answer me!"

She tightened the ice around them and the two gasped. "I'm Bode!" the tall one blurted out, his sallow skin practically glowing with the reflections from the ice. "And fatso here is Croaker."

"Fat! Who are you calling fat?" the badger-y, toad-like one shouted. He looked straight at Katara. "Idiot-features here eats way more than I do!"

She slapped a handful of ice over his mouth.

"Where am I?" she asked the seemingly more sensible Bode.

"You're in the Ministry of Magic," he answered.

Katara stuck one hip out and crossed her arms over her chest. "Is that somewhere in the Fire Nation?" she asked suspiciously. Bode and Croaker looked at each other again.

Katara heard a shuffle behind her and a familiar, loud voice. "Hey, Sugar Queen? Where are we? You kinda just disappeared," the Blind Bandit shuffled over and grabbed Katara's arm. "I can't see very well, wherever we are. Are we even still in the Fire nation?"

Bode cleared his throat. "I think you're from a different world," he said quietly. He seemed to be a quiet person.

"He's not lying, whatever he said," Toph got right into Bode's face. "You need to speak up."

"What is going on?" Sokka's harsh and high voice was followed by Suki's gentle tone.

"Do you know where we are, Katara?"

"No, I'm as lost as you are."

"- some calming ginseng tea," Iroh looked around confused, finger in the air. "Nephew?"

"He's not here, General," Toph said gently and shuffled over, taking the old man's arm.

"- Calm Down!"

"I stand corrected," Toph grinned. "Take your own advice, Sparky."

"Where are we?"

"Stop yelling!"

"You stop yelling, Sokka!"

"I'm not yelling!"

The two teenage boys stopped, and turned to where a weeping Avatar had just appeared. They were both instantly beside him, one on either side, their arms around his shoulder. Toph and Uncle Iroh joined them, Toph lightly punching Aang's arm.

"It's alright, Twinkletoes, we're all here."

"But where is here?" As one, the five benders turned and looked at Bode and Croaker, still encased in ice.

"This is England. It's different world from yours," Bode explained.

Croaker grunted and Katara melted the ice over his mouth. "We heard about a world on the other side of the veil and we got really drunk and decided to try to summon someone from that side. Looks like it worked."

Toph slapped an Earth glove over his mouth. "Obviously. This is why I hate drunks."

"So all we have to do is go back through the veil?" Aang asked, his tear-stained face rose hopefully.

"In theory," Bode said guardedly.

Aang was up and through the veil before anyone could blink. There was a little wail. "It didn't work!" Aang cried. He drifted back through the arch. "It didn't work that way either!" he flopped back down between Zuko and Sokka, to be embraced by their warriors' arms. "We'll never get home!" the tears started to flow down his cheeks again. Zuko looked at Katara, gold eyes helpless. They all stood in silence for a moment; Aang's tears the only real sound.

"We'll try and get you home," Bode said to the depressed teenagers (and one old man). After a moment's silence there was a loud, rumbling growl and everyone looked back at the veiled arch. "What the HELL is that?"

"Platypus-bear!"

_AAAAAND... Cue New Paragraph_

"Bode and Croaker – they're unspeakables-" Mr Weasley was describing people as they came through the campsite. Harry briefly wondered what on earth an unspeakable was, as all others, except for, amazingly, Hermione, seemed to know exactly, but when he opened his mouth to ask, the friendly patriarch frowned for a minute and gestured at him to be quiet. Harry strained and caught some of the hurried, soft conversation between the two men paused by the fire. They didn't appear to have noticed that they were even there.

"Well, we can't exactly tell the head of department, that veil is nothing but trouble-"

"Which is exactly why we should tell him!"

"You really want to admit that we screwed up _this_ badly?"

"We? _We?_ It was your idea!"

"And you seemed perfectly happy with it at the time. The runes were _your_ idea in case you'd forgotten-"

"I'd never have agreed in the first place if you hadn't drugged me up on firewhiskey!"

"We were both drunk! Why else would we do something like this!"

"I have no idea! Fact remains we have seven people and a – a – thing hiding out in the veil room! What the hell are we supposed to do if we can't tell head of department!"

"Keep our jobs maybe?" the one Harry thought might be called Croaker fell silent at this, considering the scowling Bode's words. Mr Weasley cleared his throat and the two unspeakables jumped around, wands ready, pale faced.

"Arthur," Croaker said warily.

"Nice morning," Bode said weakly.

Mr Weasley looked at the two of them with a raised eyebrow that Harry strongly suspected had been used on the twins more times than they could count. This was confirmed by their sniggers. Bode looked at him. "How much did you hear?" his wand twitched and Harry was uneasily reminded of how the campsite manager had been obliviated without a second thought.

"Enough," Said Mr Weasley guardedly. "You have seven people and some kind of thing that you don't know what to do with and are frightened that you are going to be fired. I also thought it was against unspeakable code to get drunk?" It was then that Harry really appreciated that Mr Weasley had seven children.

The two men twitched uncomfortably. "It was an accident," said Croaker. The Weasley guilt trip was a very effective one.

Mr Weasley bit his lip. "I heard that the minister's sending a personal representative to inspect the departments," he warned. The pink, toad-like secretary had inspected him the previous week and he really wasn't sure he liked her. Croaker paled and Bode swore.

Arthur shifted. They were good people. Always kind to him with a nodded hello in the corridor. They didn't make fun of his work like some others. And he really wasn't sure he liked that secretary. He sighed. Molly was going to kill him. "I, I suppose, just maybe-" he hesitated, "I think we might be able to put up with them at the Burrow for a little while," he finished.

Bode and Croaker stared at him. So did his children. What the hell was their mum going to say? "I – you'd really do that?" Bode asked. Croaker shifted, but thanked him profusely. The two hurried off, back to work.

Arthur turned to his family and guests. "I better alert Molly. Try not to blow anything up," he said apparating.

He arrived in time to see his three eldest leaving, and warned them to make sure the twins stayed well away from the fire. He was fairly certain they had managed to smuggle some fireworks out from under their mother's nose.

Molly looked at him suspiciously. Arthur knew better than to leave Fred and George unsupervised where fire was involved. He didn't appear to be panicking either. He also had an extremely guilty look on his face, as if he had done something that he was now rather regretting. "Arthur…" she said.

He shifted and Molly tapped her foot impatiently. Arthur shifted again. "I may or may not have agreed to house some people who shouldn't be here for a little while," Molly dropped the frying pan.

"YOU WHAT!"

A thoroughly chastised Arthur Weasley hurried out to the back shed. He had no idea what he was getting into, but he did know that they were going to need a lot more room. The undetectable extension charms were easy enough, but knowing unspeakables…

Or not knowing as such.

He'd have to owl Dumbledore. Arthur extended the shed quickly and went to find Errol.

"_Albus,_

"_Something has come up. Inadvertently I happen to be housing an extra seven people and something unidentifiable for an indefinite period as a favour to a pair of colleagues. I was wondering if you could possibly aid us in some protection charms further than the notice-me-not._

"_Regards,_

"_Arthur Weasley."_

Errol hooted dolefully at him before taking off. Arthur apparated back to the campsite. Bill and Charlie were flirting with a pair of American witches. Unsupervised, Fred and George had hog-tied Percy in a cauldron over the fire while the others danced maniacally around him, chanting. Except for Hermione who was lost to the world in her book.

Arthur sighed and rescued his son. Percy gave the rest of his family a disgusted glare before stalking off, ostensibly to find his boss.

"So dear Pater," George asked, evil grin now focusing on Arthur, "What, pray tell, did Mater say?" Arthur fixed him with the most withering glare he could muster and they all hooted with laughter.

_AAAAAND... Cue New Paragraph_

It wasn't until everyone was at home and he had been called into work to clean up after the mess of the cup that Arthur's chip was called into play.

Bode walked up to him through a bustling hallway, swift and unnoticed, quietly guiding him down to the department of mysteries. Arthur looked through the circular room curiously. He had never seen it before. Bode stopped him in the middle. "What little plan we have," he said carefully, "Is that we go in, disillusion them, come out and go. Basil in transport's agreed to organise something for us. He doesn't know anything though so _don't_ say anything."

Arthur nodded. Disillusion and smuggle. He could do that. Bode gave a wary look and shut his eyes. The room span around them and a door swang open in front of them once it had stopped. Bode stepped forward and Arthur followed.

In the centre of the room was a tall archway, with a single, flowing piece of fabric fluttering in a nonexistent wind. This was not what caught his attention first. What caught his attention first was the… thing. It looked a little like a beaver, merged with a duck. And big. With claws.

Next thing he noticed was seven people viewing him with utmost suspicion. Well, six. The seventh, a short old man, was smiling benevolently in a distinctly Dumbledore-like fashion. It rather gave Arthur the creeps. A girl with mocha skin and dark hair who looked to be about Hermione's age stepped forward. "Please tell me you've come to get us out of here," she said flatly, tapping her foot. Arthur wasn't surprised. It had been a full day since he'd overheard Bode and Croaker and who knew how long they'd been here before the cup.

"Please," said a boy who looked a bit older and likely related to her, "We haven't eaten in _forever,_" the girl rolled her eyes.

Arthur smiled. No doubt he would appreciate Molly's cooking. "Yes, I am. My name's Arthur Weasley. I do believe my wife will feed you."

The boy perked up at that, as did a younger girl (about Ginny's age) with eerie white eyes. "He's going to feed us? I'm in."

The boy leaning casually against the arch made a sceptical noise. "Maybe we should think about this a bit more. Trust should not be given lightly," as he turned to face him, Arthur could see why he said it. Sharply outlined against his pale skin and black hair was an angry scar, blooming over his left eye.

"Food Sparky! Food!" the young girl emphasised, as if it were the only thing that mattered in this whole situation.

The mocha girl made a tutting sound. Arthur strongly suspected that she was the unofficial mother of the group. "Personally I'm with Toph," she said, her potential bother gave her a hopeful look and she rolled her eyes again, "Yes, Sokka! That means I think we should go with the person with food! Iroh, what do you think?"

"I think that you are right Katara," the old man said in a sticky, jovial voice. The boy with the scar offered up another sceptical grunt but the old man continued, "You do have a point though nephew."

"Aang, Suki?" the girl, Katara, looked at the other two. The red-headed girl nodded cautiously, her make up robbing her face of all expression and the final boy (short, wiry and bald with a blue arrow painted on his head) looked trustingly at Katara.

"I think Zuko is right about trust," he said diplomatically, "But we are all very capable of defending ourselves and I could really go for some food."

Mocha girl, Katara smiled smugly. "Sorry Zuko, our stomachs have won."

The boy with the scar, Zuko, sighed. "Food will out," he said softly, "Take me to your feeder."

_So that was the first instalment of our new fic. If you like it review, if you're indifferent review, if you hate it review. __ But know that if you flame you burn in the fires that you conjure. Good day._

_Belladonna._


	2. Meeting the Weasleys

_**Updates will be few and far between this year. Mogseltof and I have just started year twelve and are in different study classes. What little we give you I hope you can enjoy.**_

Chapter 2

The introductions were short and tense. The red-haired man, Mr Weasley, although he had an amiable face, was slightly unnerving in his chipperness. He gave the Gaang a broad smile that made his freckles scrunch up on his cheeks.

"I'll never remember all your names today but I'm sure I'll get them in time. You'll be staying with me and my family until we can figure out how to get you home."

"We gathered." Zuko muttered sullenly. Katara elbowed him in the ribs and though it had been a few months since he got his scar from Azula, his chest throbbed in protest of the blow. Aang looked at the veil, a sadness in his young, grey eyes. He was missing Appa and Momo, reminders of his peaceful childhood and his best animal friends. The platypus bear was huddled in the corner, warm and quiet, confused, but it was no substitute for his fluffy spirit guide.

"We'll work on it every chance we get, young one. We promise." Bode put a hand on the young avatar's thin shoulder but the thirteen-year-old just shrugged it off.

"Yeah." He said dispassionately, but under his breath added, "You'd better."

"We need to cast a spell on you to sneak you out of the department. People will still see you but they won't notice you at all. We need one of you to lead the... thing." Bode gestured to the platypus-bear as he explained. Zuko and Katara shared a look. Neither one of them were exactly comfortable in the cave, despite its blessed lack of crystals and it was magic that had gotten them into this mess in the first place but they both longed to be out in the open air. They gave tense nods and Aang stepped forward.

"I'll lead the platypus-bear."

"Excellent." Mr Weasley clapped his hands together. "Let's get going." Toph grabbed Iroh's arm and the pair shuffled out first, followed by an arm in arm Sokka and Suki, the tense duo of Zuko and Katara with Aang leading the platypus-bear up the rear. As each pair stepped out into the department of mysteries, Bode and Croaker cast the disillusionment charms. For all intents and purposes, they were invisible.

AAAAAND... Cue New Paragraph

Toph could feel movement all around her, ten times worse than Ba Sing Se. That they were underground was clear, the rumble of movement above and below them and though there were vibrations everywhere, everything was fuzzy. She couldn't see right and it unnerved her, for the first time since she met the badger-moles, Toph was scared.

Suki could feel it too. She was used to being out in the open, surrounded by trees and water but this... there were so many people, all pressing together as they moved from place to place. It was just like the Boiling Rock and though it didn't frighten her, she never wanted to go back to such a place.

Zuko grew up surrounded by people but Katara had only ever had small numbers around her. Even in the Northern Water Tribe, she really only had her bending class and the royal family. She was isolated even in Ba Sing Se and the press of people sent shudders up her spine. She stuck close to Zuko, her tension reaching out to him like a babe to its mother. Without looking down, without saying a word, the Firelord took her hand. Her mocha fingers tightened around his pale white ones like he was her anchor. As calm and solid as he was now, that is what Zuko became.

Aang walked as if in a daze, confused by the bustle and missing his home and his friends. Beside him the platypus-bear was anxious, shifting from foot to foot in a nervous, lumbering gait. Aang looked ahead to his tense friends and noticed the Death grip his girlfriend had on his master's hand, the falsely confident stride of the leader of the Kyoshi warriors, the nervous and truly blind shuffle of his strong earthbending friend. He stiffened his lip and looked straight ahead, determined to be brave for those who were brave for him.

AAAAAND...Cue New Paragraph

The three wizards led them to a much brighter room than the cave they were in previously. A plump man was sitting at a desk there, a bright blue quill in his hand.

"Evening Basil." Mr Weasley greeted the plump man. "You've got a mode of transport for us I believe."

"I do Arthur." The plump man smiled. "It's in the corner." He gestured with his quill and all eyes, visible and not so alike. What they saw was a ratty old armchair made of faded red velvet. Sokka lifted an eyebrow and glanced at Zuko; the most well-read of the group but the Firelord just shrugged and gave a little shake of his head, his eyebrows drawn together.

"Right. Now everyone lay a hand on the chair." Arthur instructed, drawing Basil's attention to the strange assembly around his three co-workers. Having worked at the ministry long enough, he knew not to ask questions. All the benders managed to lay their right hand on the old chair and the platypus-bear followed suit, just wanting to be part of something with familiar smelling people. Mr Weasley counted to five slowly and then they weren't in Basil's office. There was a rushing, tugging feeling around Katara's navel and the ground was insubstantial and swirling around her feet.

In mere seconds it was over, the ground solid under their feet and their navels left un-tugged. Katara and Toph fell to their knees, both girls spasming with the force of their retching. Suki knelt down to hold Toph's fringe out of the way and Zuko did the same for Katara's mass of brown locks. Sokka and Iroh looked down at their two friends with sympathetic eyes while Aang, unaffected by the journey, tried to calm down the platypus-bear. Mr Weasley chuckled. "You'll be fine in a few minutes." He swept an arm out across the short, scrubby garden they were in. "Welcome to The Burrow."

THIS IS A LINE

Molly was waiting for Arthur, her face set in a grim line, foot tapping, arms crossed over her chest. Arthur smiled at her weakly, and she heard Fred and George sniggering darkly behind her. The group of people around Arthur seemed a little uncertain, but she gave them a warm smile and they seemed to relax.

"Welcome to our humble abode," Fred said with a sweeping bow and a manic grin.

"Where you may rest your weary heads and eat as _kings_!" George added, with a melodramatic bow of his own.

"Hi," Ron said.

"Ignore the twits," Ginny said, coming up to them and holding out her hand for a friendly shake. "They like to think they're funny. Sometimes we humour them, but it only seems to encourage them."

"Oh, do come in and have something to eat! You look famished!" Mrs Weasley clucked like a worried hen and ushered them inside – some needing less ushering than others.

Harry and Hermione peered around the door and smiled friendlily at the strange collection of people. "I'm Hermione." The bushy haired witch smiled with a small wave.

"Harry," the bespectacled boy said with a small grin, "is me," he added as an afterthought, his mouth twisting into a moue of puzzlement at his phrasing.

The table was laden with food – a veritable feast. Mrs Weasley had outdone herself this time. The group looked at it oddly, not recognising many of the foods arrayed. They seated themselves nonetheless, crowded around the magically extended table in the back yard. A few gnomes wandered in and about their ankles.

The mocha-skinned teenage girl started and gripped the arm of the scarred young man. "There is something _trying to get up my pants_," she hissed at him.

He leant forward slightly and peered under the tablecloth. "It appears to be a potato with legs," he said, eyebrows furrowing.

"Oh, that'll be a gnome – Bill and Charlie were supposed to degnome this morning, but I think they skived off to throw a quaffle around instead," Ginny said casually, reaching under and grabbing the thing firmly. "Maybe I should tell Mum," she said ponderingly, throwing it over the fence. She made a face for a few seconds. "No, I actually like those brothers. You're Katara, aren't you?"

Katara, back as straight as an iron rod, nodded stiffly, teeth clenched. "I am Katara, yes. I also _don't like gnomes_."

Ginny snorted. "Lot of people don't – Mum for example. You want to let go of his arm? It's turning white…er," she amended, looking at Zuko.

On the other side of the table, Sokka, Harry and Ron were talking eagerly. Well, Harry was talking, Sokka and Ron were grunting around food.

Toph, Suki, Fred and George were crowded around a sheet of parchment that no one could quite see, though Hermione could hear snatches of their conversation and Aang was looking increasingly worried at the expression on the two girl's faces.

"- so if we employ Crookshanks here-"

"- throw in a couple of gnomes when _this_ one goes off-"

"- yeah, if we throw one of _these_ through Percy's window-"

Charlie leant over their shoulders and Fred and George covered up the parchment while Toph and Suki smiled innocently. He rolled his eyes and leant over to unroll the parchment and point his finger at a few spots. "You see if you put the gnomes over _here_, and make sure that Perce isn't actually in his room, then that eliminates the need for an extra lookout _here_-"

Aang was looking very worried by this point and Hermione decided that it was best not to ask. They were all getting along at least.

A silvery phoenix flew over the gate and up to Mr and Mrs Weasley. _I do hope I am not interrupting, but Arthur mentioned something about accommodation issues. I do believe I can help._ It said in Dumbledore's voice. The phoenix vanished as Iroh nodded in approval at the efficient method of communication.

Mrs Weasley gave a sigh of relief, and went to meet the headmaster at the gate.

_**So there you go. Sorry about the lengthy wait but you were warned. hope you enjoy and Toph is listening to what the others are saying about the parchment and contributing wicked ideas because she's awesome. **_

_**B**_


	3. An Interesting Day

_**Sorry guys. It's been a while. Life got in the way. This one was done without Mogseltof as she has been busier than I have. I'm also thinking of doing a Sherlock Holmes at Hogwarts type thing, let me know what you guys think. Anyway here you go.**_

The man that came up the drive reminded the benders of King Bumi. His robes were a garish aquamarine and the pearly grin behind the beard was unerringly mad. He managed to get in a quick "Good day to you children," before Arthur swept him away to his shed. Katara turned with wide eyes to the bushy haired Hermione.

"That's the man who's supposed to help us?" she raised her eyebrows at the witch. Sure Bumi was nice, and occasionally very helpful, but not exactly the person you would turn to in a crisis of this magnitude. Hermione laughed and nodded.

"Albus Dumbledore is an excellent wizard, probably the best in the world. He's a bit batty but he's our headmaster. We're used to it." Zuko was beginning to notice similarities in the two young women, enough to unnerve him. He knew how much power lay beneath Katara's motherly smile. Hermione's smile was equally nice as she offered them some more pumpkin juice.

"Fred and George Weasley!" Molly's face was almost as red as her hair. Though Zane and Katara jumped, Hermione was completely unfazed. "What do you think you're doing?" All heads turned to watch as Fred and George, not nearly as afraid of their mother as they should be, hid the assorted elements of their prank and smiled identical smiles.

"Nothing Mum." They chorused.

"Quiet down now Weasleys!" Arthur was suddenly behind the twins. "Gather round everyone!" Weasleys and benders seemed to appear from all over the garden. There was no sign of the unusual Dumbledore. "We have been offered a more secure location to house you until Bode and Croaker can figure out how to get you home." Many eyebrows were lifted and a few whispers went around the yard. "Come September you'll all be going off to Hogwarts with the children."

That evening Ron and Sokka were eating and telling bad jokes while Harry threw in the occasional chuckle. Aang was just staring out the window. He had gone as lifeless as when they'd lost Appa, perhaps even more so; for this time he had lost more than a friend. This time he'd lost his entire world. Though he'd discovered last time that pining did no good, he couldn't help it, not at all, he longed for home more than anything else in the world. Zuko sat down next to him.

"We'll get home Aang. They promised." The young Firelord put his warm hand on the Avatar's slim shoulder.

"It was you who said we should be careful to trust Zuko." The deadness of the boy's voice chilled the Firelord. He sighed.

"Aang these people seem to genuinely want to help us. And until we find a way home, they're our best choice. They've been nice to us."

"I guess." The Avatar pulled his knees up under his chin and returned to gazing out the window and Zuko sighed, turning and snatching a candy out of Sokka's hand.

Downstairs Katara was sitting on Hermione's bed watching Ginny comb out Toph's hair. Suki was looking through Hermione's things as the bushy haired witch packed them. Hermione was folding her clothes, using them to cushion assorted books as they went into her plain brown trunk.

"So why do you wear that make-up?" Ginny asked the older redhead. Suki's perfectly outlined, blood red lips quirked up in a smile.

"It's part of what I am. All Kyoshi warriors wear this make-up. It is to honour our founder." She answered, fanning the pages of one of Hermione's books.

"You're a warrior?" Hermione asked, "Like an Amazon?"

"A what?" Suki shook her head before the answer came. "I'm not just _a_ warrior. I'm the leader of the Kyoshi warriors."

"What about school?" Hermione asked a tone of shock in her voice. Suki shrugged.

"I can read, write and add well enough. Beyond that I'm an excellent strategist and I don't need much else." Hermione turned to Katara and Toph.

"What about you two?" Katara shrugged.

"I can read the more modern Kanji. I'm not so good with older variations. But I can write and my maths is passable. I was raised to take care of a village full of children, women and grandparents. School was not so useful."

"I had more tutors than I needed or wanted. People teaching me maths, literature, etiquette; useless stuff. Boy did they regret that life decision." The girls spent the night chatting of trivial things but when the two friendly witches fell asleep, Toph, tough Toph, finally broke. She wept for the first time in forever and cradled in the arms of her two friends, fell asleep missing home.

The next morning dawned bright and horrifically cheerful. Katara and Suki had extricated themselves from Toph and gone downstairs with Hermione and Ginny to make breakfast. The young Earthbender was left snoozing peacefully.

Upstairs Zuko had risen before the dawn had even considered breaking, as usual, his cot creaking next to Harry's bed. Harry turned his head, squinting, meeting Zuko's bare and stretching back.

"Geez man, way to make the feelings of inadequacy rise." He moaned, lifting his own arms over his still horizontal head. Zuko just shrugged. "Seriously though, how do you stay so fit?" Another shrug.

"I have to." Obviously not getting anything from the scarred older boy, Harry kicked a loudly snoring Ronald.

"Wake up Ron!"

"What why?" The redhead bolted upright.

"Breakfast." Ron was out of bed faster than Aang in sight of an animal yet to be ridden.

"Was he even wearing trousers?" Zuko asked. Harry shook his head, a wry look on his face. Zuko glanced at a drooling Sokka. "I bet you Sokka moves faster." The two boys smiled at each other and the Firelord gave Sokka a nudge. "Hey Snoozles, breakfast." It was as if Sokka teleported, one moment he was there, the next he wasn't.

"You win."

**_Well it's a short one but a good one. In my eyes anyway. Belladonna_**


End file.
